Google is testing a single self-driving commercial truck on a private track in California. The company may be looking to compete with Otto, a self-driving truck company that Uber acquired in August:
Waymo, the autonomous vehicle unit of Alphabet Inc., is testing a self-driving truck. The company, formerly known as Google's autonomous car venture, has installed its self-driving technology on a single Class 8 Peterbilt truck. Waymo has begun tests at a private track in California and plans road tests in Arizona later in the year. For now, it is keeping a driver behind the wheel at all times.
The company, which has millions of miles of on-road experience with autonomous cars, wants to learn how self-driving technology works in larger vehicles. Trucks in the heaviest Class 8 weight segment handle differently than passenger cars. They accelerate and brake more slowly. Their turning radius is far larger. They have giant blind spots. All of this requires that the sensors that provide data to the computer systems driving the truck be positioned differently than where they would be on a car.
"Self-driving technology can transport people and things much more safely than we do today and reduce the thousands of trucking-related deaths each year," Waymo said in a statement. "We're taking our eight years of experience in building self-driving hardware and software and conducting a technical exploration into how our technology can integrate into a truck."
Also at Reuters, TechCrunch, The Verge, and CNET.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 04 2017, @03:29AM
Life was a road that you traveled on
There was one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bent, sometimes you stood
Sometimes you turned your back to the wind
There was a world outside every darkened door
Where blues wouldn't haunt you anymore
Where the brave were free and lovers soared
Came rode with me to the distant shore
We didn't hesitate broke down the garden gate
There's not much left today
Life was a highway
I used to ride it all night long
If you were going my way
I used to drive it all night long
Through all the cities and all those towns
It was in my blood and it was all around
I love you now like I loved you then
That was the road and these were the hands
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The Khyber Pass to Vancouver's lights
Knocked me down got back up again
You were in my blood now I'm a lonely man
There's no load I can hold
Road was rough this I know
I was there when the light came in
Tell 'em we were survivors
Life was a highway
I used to ride it all night long
If you were going my way
I used to drive it all night long, hmm
Life was a highway
I used to ride it all night long
If you were going my way
I used to drive it all night long
There is a distance between you and I
A misunderstanding once but now
We look it in the eye
Oh
Ooh
There's no load, I can hold
Road was rough this I know
I was there when the light came in
Tell 'em we were survivors
Life was a highway
I used to ride it all night long, yeah yeah yeah
If you were going my way
I used to drive it all night long, yeah yeah
(Gimme gimme gimme gimme yeah)
Life was a highway
I used to ride it all night long
If you were going my way
I used to drive it all night long
(Gimme gimme gimme gimme yeah)
Life was a highway
I used to ride it all night long, yeah
If you were going my way
I used to drive it all night long, ooh
(Gimme gimme gimme gimme yeah)